Escape the Sea (COMPLETED)

Chapter 9: City of Lights

Josh was astonished at the sight, the city was beautiful! All the walls glowed with vibrant colors of all sorts! Sky blue, navy blue, seaweed green, soft pink, violet, you name it! The ceiling looked like glowing rock icicles! There were tall pointy buildings that also had the same glow. It looked like an underwater New York City! "Amazing isn't it?" Lydia beamed. Josh just nodded; he was so stunned that he was speechless! "Those holes on all the walls are pads or homes as humans call it." "Did you live here?" Josh curiously asked. "Oh please no! These pads are for the rich and luxurious! My home is in the coral reef. It's absolutely beautiful! It's full of sea animals of all kinds and in the day, the sun shines brightest there than anywhere! And the coral itself is beautiful and full of vibrant colors! Some merfolk say that it's one of the best." "We need to see it sometime." Josh said it so smooth that even James Bond would be jealous. Lydia just shyly smiled and turned back to the city. "Let's take a look shall we?" She said as she held out her hand. A small smile grew on Josh's face and said "We shall." as he gave her his hand. The two swam down into the city. The metropolis was so quiet; all they could hear was their heavy breathing.

Josh saw all different kinds of things like a store called Starget, that oddly looked very similar to the Target on land. He saw many statues of, what appeared to be, past mermaids. He also saw a small shop called Coral's Gifts that seemed to have sold jewelry, mermaid attire, and some fancy decorative pieces. "That is my favorite shop! My best friend Coral owns it! She has short straight naturally bright orange hair and she would always wear a classy silver choker! She's the sweetest! Though, she does have a bit of an attitude. Oh! And that was my favorite restaurant!" She pointed to a small pointy building that was named "Poisson", which means fish in French. "The King took me there for my birthday once! It's actually a very funny story what happened, you see we were sitting there eating our dinner and-" She stopped.

She looked around suspiciously, like she heard something. "What's wrong?" Josh asked, looking around for his answer. She closed her eyes and listened closely. "We're not alone." She whispered. She grabbed Josh's arm and hid behind a small building. "What do you mean we're not alone? I thought it was abandoned." He asked shakingly. "It was." She said without any fear. She sounded like a new and more assertive Lydia. She peeked around the corner and zoomed back to where she was. "There's a shark here. Sharks and mermaids are mortal enemies." She said as quiet as possible. "What are we going to do?! They're going to eat us! We're doomed!" He whisper yelled. "Ssshhh they can hear everything! I don't know about you, but I do not want to become that shark's dinner!" She whisper yelled back. Then, Josh's face became paler than Queen Elizabeth herself. "What's wrong?" Lydia asked worryingly. He pointed behind her and she slowly turned around.

There was a shark eyeing them from across the way, thinking about who to eat first. "He's probably starving, he hasn't eaten in weeks." She whispered. Her hands, tail, everything was shaking! Josh took notice and grabbed her hand. (It also made him feel better so it was a win win situation.) Lydia was too nervous to really react as it started to inch closer and closer, then it picked up speed until it was as fast as a road runner! "SWIM!!" Lydia screamed! There was no thinking about it, just go! "This way!" She yelled as they swam to the entrance, but this shark was not alone. No, he had back up waiting at the only exit. "Oh no.." Josh hesitated, "Now what?!" He yelled. She dragged Josh to the pads with the shark on their tail! The sharks destroyed everything they touched, these sharks were hungry and they were willing to do ANYTHING for food. They destroyed at least a dozen pads.

"Come on!" Lydia pointed to a tiny cave, small enough so that the sharks couldn't fit inside. They swiftly swam into the cave, with the sharks hitting their heads various times on the wall. "Phew!" She said, trying to catch her breath. "Lydia, it's getting harder to breathe." Josh said huffing and puffing. "Oh no! How long has it been?!" She thought to herself. "The sharks aren't leaving anytime soon... we have to make a swim for it." She said, looking outside to see her worst nightmare right in front of her. "Lydi, my lungs! They hurt!" He wheezed. She put him over her shoulders and swam out of that little cave like a bolt of lightning! With the sharks just inches away from devouring her tail, Lydia set Josh on a rock. She had to end this. "I'll be right back!" She said right before she swam off with the sharks right behind her. She broke some of the pointy rock on the wall and right when the shark opened its menacing mouth, almost eating Lydia, she put the piece of rock in its mouth, pointy part up so that it wouldn't be able to shut its mouth. She poked its eye and slapped it with her tail until the shark fell to the rocky ground. Thankfully, the second one was so frightened that it swam away like a pansy! "Yes!" She cheered but her celebration was short lived. "Josh!" She cried. When she came back she saw him holding his stomach in pain, "Let's go!" She hesitated, holding Josh in her arms. She swam as fast as she could, going against the currents as it pulled her down. "We're almost there! Please Josh, I can't lose you!" She felt the tears coming as she swam to the dry surface. Once she finally made it, she looked desperately at Josh. "Josh? JOSH?!" Everything went silent, all she could hear were the waves crashing one by one, laughing at her stupidity.